Oh yeah, I do have a husband!

This past weekend I had the great opportunity (thanks to wonderful family who watched my boys) to visit Shawn out in Allentown, PA. We had a great weekend and were able to see a lot of neat things. Did I mention that I have a husband again, I think I've almost manage to forget what that was like, so it was a nice refresher of what will come in TWO more weeks!! We can't wait. Here are some pictures of our adventures. We went to NYC and Gettysburg and had a great time at both places. What a fun vacation for me! Shawn insisted that he would be in all the photos (j/k I've already been to these places, so I didn't need anymore of me, so Shawn was the subject.

Our 3rd ticket from getting lost, and relost on the New Jersey Turnpike, I think we met their annual quota for tolls that night.

The Staten Island Ferry took us right by Lady Liberty!

Empire State Building

Ground Zero at the World Trade Center block

The Bull on Wall Street

Time Square

Bethsada Fountain in Central Park

The Museum of Natural History -

Shawn was posing with me and the boys in Pre-homosapien form

Me and my two wondeful, beautiful roommates Emily and Erin who we met up with for dinner and dessert.

Gettysburg National Park

Little Round Top

Baby Summers - oops how did that get in there?

Arrival April 2010

Gettysburg Address Site

Our trip was great, and it was even better knowing that boys were being well taken care of. We are all really excited about our newest little adventure on the way, and so far everything is going well. Many of you already knew about the baby, but for those of you who don't there you go! We hope you have a great week!

Jack - The Cake Monster

I made a mini-tractor just for Jack to tear apart for his birthday and sat in on a chocolate cake for all the family who came to celebrate. Jack was PERFECT, really he did exactly if not more than what you want your 1 year old to do with his cake. He ate nearly half of it, and that is no exaggeration. He thought he was the bee's knees though as the cousins giggled at him tearing into the cake and burying his face into it. What a sweet boy, and what a Happy Birthday.

Jack was incredibly spoiled with gifts and toys, thank you all for the presents and birthday wishes. We decided to get him a Tonka Dump Truck, which he (and SAM) loved!

Sam started his first day of Preschool on Tuesday and he is loving it! Here's a first day of school picture. He loves school, maybe not the learning as much as being with kids. He is getting so big!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Since we are heading up to the cabin for Jack's birthday, I'm going to celebrate a few days early.

September 6, 2008 - 2:05 a.m. Jack Rick came into the world, a little unexpectedly, but oh were we so happy to have him. We continue to be amazed at what a wondeful, Happy, Handsome, Fun, Adventurous Boy he is. Jack we love you so much, and are grateful everyday for all the love and happiness you radiate in that little body of yours. Happy 1st Birthday! Here are some fun facts about Jack:

1. He loves to eat! a favorite quote at our house - "no one eats alone in Jack's presence"

2. He loves to get into EVERYTHING! I mean everything: dirt, toilets, cupboards, flour sacks, garbages, book shelves, shoe closets. You name it, he's eaten and/or destroyed it.

3. He is Walking - it is fun to see this again and how shakey they are on their legs, and how proud they are for accomplishing even a few steps.

4. He loves to cuddle and will lay his head on almost anyone's shoulder

5. He has the most true blue eyes I've ever seen - almost too pretty to be a boy's

6. He laughs over simple things, and I love this quality - he finds pleasure in the smallest things

7. He was an anwer to many prayers and two years of waiting! Talk about being worth the wait.

8. He has ten teeth, love to play in the toy car, and has started to throw fits if I take something away - usually closing the dishwasher door!

9. He delivery was the best - only 3 hours of labor and 5 minutes of pushing!

10. He says "mama" and that is about it for now, hopefully dada will follow when his dada arrives back on the scene!

12 hours old 6 weeks old 3 months old

5 months old 9 months old "typical Jack"

1 year old - aren't those blue eyes blue!

To: Shawn From: Your Wifey

Farmer Jack. He loves the tractor at Grandma's house, and we are going to have a tractor cake for his birthday that is only a week away! My baby is one, I'm so sad. But isn't he stinkin' cute?

Here's some pictures from the week - We hit Mesa Falls (114 ft. waterfall) and Rigby Lake - which both boys LOVED!

The boys have been soaking up the sunshine, and Jack and taken a real liking to drinking from the hose!

The boys playing doctor - Jack refuses to keep his surgical hat on. I'm not sure that is sanitary!

Finally here is a fabulous photo of me - AKA "BraceFace" I'm think I'm officially 14 again. I can't help but laugh, because I look alot like my 16 year old niece Christine, who is also sporting braces. Oh, wow, I can't believe this is actually happening! (picture courtesy of Sam)

Love you Shawn, and miss you!!

Saturday Soup

This week has been loaded with fun things for me and the boys. 1st - the zoo. The kids had a great time, and the animals were all out and about, so it made it twice as fun.

We then hit the Museum of Idaho and went to the Titanic exhibit. It was really neat to see the artifacts they have uncovered, and they gave each of us a ticket with a passenger's name on it and at the end, we found out if "we" survived. Very cool (Hahahaha...)!

We went hiking on Wednesday up to Heise - a local hot springs. I had to laugh as we started on the trail because of this caution sign:

however the we saw no snakes, plenty of little lizards though. The kids especially loved cooling off in the stream that runs through the trail - Jack too! He has no fear of water, whether it be freezing cold or luke warm he loves it. This was no exception.

I also had two VERY exciting things happen -

1. I had my 1st ever REDBOX experience. I know, very exciting!

(me and my niece Tyleigh)

2. I am getting braces! (cry, sniffle) 10 years ago I was realized from metal mouth bondage with a dazzling set of perfectly straight teeth. Now through unexplainable events (I didn't wear my retainer faithfully, and my wisdom teeth came in) they have shifted leaving me with a horrible snaggle tooth! I can stand it no longer, and so long story short..... I'm going to look like a 15 year old again. Oh well, I can stand it for 6-12 months right? Shawn is SUPER excited since he has never kissed a girl with braces. I'm sure he'll love it!

The weeks are going by very quickly for the boys and I. Shawn is Colorado right now, and will be there for 1 more week. Thank you Dan and Brigit for being the hostests with the mostest! It has made a HUGE difference for Shawn to be with family this month, and we are so grateful that he really only had to do 2 months of complete solitude. I'm hopefuly going to head out for a weekend trip to PA while he is in Allentown next month. We hope you all have a great week.

26, Rocky Mountains, & Cancelled

It has been a crazy few weeks. We headed out to Colorado to visit Shawn August 3rd. We played super hard with Brigit and the kids (Shawn's sister - whom he is staying with) hitting the pool, the park, the aquarium, and watching the kids go wild with each other. Sam and Jack loved every second with their cousins.

I celebrated my 26th Birthday with Shawn which was the highlight! We went to dinner and shopping, so yes it was MY choice of things to do! 26 feels a little more wierd to me than any other birthday so far, because I'm closer to 30 then I thought?

On Friday they left for a family vacation, leaving us to "play house" at their house for the rest of our visit. We loved having time to just spend the four of us. We went up to Estes State Park, an tourist town in the Rocky Mountains. It was BEAUTIFUL there, and we got old time photos (I'll have to post that later), ate at Penelope's Burgers, and went to a family fun place where we mini-golfed, potato sack slid, and jumped on a super tramp! It was so much fun and the boys were great the entire time.

The rest of the time while Shawn was gone to the hospital, the boys and I hung out, swam, and walked to local parks. On Wednesday we were scheduled to fly home. We checked in our luggage, went through security and got to our gate, only to find out that our plane had been cancelled! Nice huh? Gets better - so I tried to call Shawn, who couldn't feel his phone vibrate. He finally answered about 20 minutes into his drive home. He had to come back, and in the meantime I was trying to reschedule my flight for today, waiting in a HUGE line with two hungry and stir-crazy boys. I love how people look at you like you're crazy for traveling with kids, as you throw food at them to keep them occupied or chase them around the airport, rushing to the bathroom, shushing whining and crying! Okay so maybe I am crazy:) But alas, Shawn came and got us, and our flight is rescheduled for today, so lets hope that it goes a little more smoothly!

Jack is standing on his own (no pictures of that, but it is happening) and he thinks he is pretty hot stuff when he does. He even does some up and down action when he does it! He is also turned into quite the groover. Every time a song comes on or when he wakes up from a nap he starts bobbin' his head and shake his body! He is so cute - and I'll try to get a video of this, because it is better live! He also has been getting his molars, not so much fun:( But he has popped one through and working hard on the other. His 1st birthday is just around the corner and I can hardly believe that he is going to be one. We love him and Sammy so much, and they really have been the best boys considering our crazy, broken home lately. We hope you are all well - have a great week.